Close symbiosis of science and practice

As a fundamental truth in the scientific world, it is necessary to strengthen research activities for the effective development of the innovation system. And in this regard, a significant role in the formation of the innovation system in the republic is assigned to higher educational institutions, because their main task is to train students, undergraduates, doctoral students and conduct scientific research. However, in most higher educational institutions, in particular those that train specialists for the agricultural sector of the economy, there is a low level of research activity, a shortage of technological platforms, industrial sites (experimental land plots) for conducting full-fledged field experiments.

Currently, most universities are not affiliated with scientific organizations, the teaching staff does not show much interest in scientific research, which undoubtedly led to the rupture of creative ties between capable talented students, undergraduates, doctoral students and researchers with sophisticated experience, due to the unreasonable separation of learning and research processes.

As has been demonstrated by the experience of the world's leading research universities, the emergence of many well-known innovative companies is due to the fact that their founders have been engaged in research activities since their student years, coming up with original ideas. Without immersion in the atmosphere of research and commercial culture within the walls of universities, the founders of these companies would hardly have been able to accomplish what they managed. Research universities are educational institutions that provide students with knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as a kind of scientific ground, the main task of which is to conduct research, especially in technological fields.

Two interrelated processes play a huge role in the course of education: fundamental theoretical knowledge transfer and their testing in practice. Both are of priority importance in the development of educational programs of research universities, i.e. a research university is a symbiosis of educational and research institutes.

One of the most striking examples today, we can say, is the coordinated work of the Grain Farming Center named after A.I. Barayev with the Kazakh Agrotechnical University named after S. Seifullin, in which two years ago there was a merger with another scientific institution of the Forestry Research Institute and the North Kazakhstan Experimental Station. Currently, the result of joint activities is the implementation of 8 integrated scientific and technical programs with the involvement of leading scientists of the university and research institutes.

Today, being in close cooperation with the university, the staff of the SPC GF named after A.I. Barayev is an integrated scientific and educational center together with other subsidiaries, carries out scientific research in the general scientific direction and training of personnel for the agricultural sector of the economy. During these two years, together with the university, a Competence Center for students was created, where more than 50 undergraduates, 10 doctoral students and 120 students of KATU named after S.Seifullin passed scientific training, research and professional practice in the educational programs “Agronomy”, “Soil Science and agrochemistry”, “Plant protection and quarantine”, “Breeding and seed production”, and young teachers - industrial internship in laboratories and industrial hospitals. They were able to take part in all technological processes of cultivation, laying and conducting field experiments, methods of creating new promising varieties of agricultural crops, jointly implement, using the technological platforms of the University and affiliated organizations, scientific and technical programs on the budget program of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan and with the economic entities of the agro-industrial complex of the Republic of Kazakhstan. At the same time, the scientific staff of the Center are involved in the management of theses, master's and doctoral dissertations. In other words, the integration of science, education and production becomes even closer and more effective.

In order to further advance the planned strategic objectives and achieve a stable financial position of the Center, the implementation of state innovative projects on updating the material and technical base, infrastructure development and improving the social and living conditions of researchers has been launched jointly with the University. Thus, as part of the implementation, the construction of an apartment-type dormitory for 250 beds has begun, information resources (scientific libraries of the organization) have been integrated, 13 specialized and 5 analytical laboratories are being equipped with modern equipment and devices.

During this short period, young promising scientists have come to the scientific laboratories of the Center, many of them have improved their qualifications on international internships, studied in the world's leading scientific centers, and have a good command of the international language of science – English. Thus, 15 scientific personnel, including 5 PhD candidates and doctors, 10 doctoral students and undergraduates, were invited to work from the capital’s Agrotechnical University in the Center in order to strengthen the scientific potential. Thanks to the influx of young specialists in the center, the pool of young scientists has increased to 35%. Young researchers participate in competitions of the system of their own scientific grants from extra-budgetary funds of the university. Over the years, the number of young research managers of grant funding projects has tripled. The implementation of practice-oriented educational programs jointly developed with KATU, based on their own scientific results and advanced scientific achievements, is one of the priority directions of the Enterprise Development Program.

The press corps of the SPC GF named after A.I. Barayev